Author and Former Realtor Nancy Lynn Jarvis launches The Glass House

 

Welcome to fabulous author Nancy Lynn Jarvis!

Nancy Lynn Jarvis was a Santa Cruz, California, Realtor® for more than twenty years before she fell in love with writing and let her license lapse.

After earning a BA in behavioral science from San Jose State University, she worked in the advertising department of the San Jose Mercury News. A move to Santa Cruz meant a new job as a librarian and later a stint as the business manager for Shakespeare/Santa Cruz at UCSC.

Nancy’s work history reflects her philosophy: people should try something radically different every few years, a philosophy she applies to her writing, as well. She has written seven Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries; a stand-alone novel “Mags and the AARP Gang” about a group of octogenarian bank robbers; edited “Cozy Food: 128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes” and a short story anthology, “Santa Cruz Weird;” and even done a little insider’s book, “The Truth About Hosting Airbnb” about her first year as a host.

“The Glass House” is the first book in a new series, PIP Inc. Mysteries. Currently she’s working on the fourth book in the series which should be read in order titled, “Dearly Beloved Departed.”

Website: www.nancylynnjarvis.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2918242.Nancy_Lynn_Jarvis

Amazon author page:  https://www.amazon.com/s?k=nancy+lynn+jarvis&i=stripbooks&sprefix=Nancy+Lynn+Jarvis%2Caps%2C450&ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_17

That's where people should go to see all my books and buy any they want to read in either print or ebook format

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nancylynnjarvis/

 Tell us about your life outside of writing. 

My life is finally put back together post CZU Fire in Santa Cruz County that happened two years ago. I’ve been writing during that time, but it’s been difficult because concentrating while first being displaced for eight months and then living in a construction zone with air compressors, contractors, and a constant barrage of, “Hey Nancy, what do you want us to do about this?” made focusing difficult. I did manage to write one short story, The Pool Guy, about the fire’s aftermath and finished The Corpse’s Secret Life, book three in my PIP Inc. Mysteries series, but it’s been a challenge.

Right now, I’m getting brave enough to start resorting my gardens which were also burned, and just had a talented young artist turn my propane tank into the Beatles Yellow Submarine, something I promised I would do as the last bit of restoration.

Do you have a work in progress? 

I always have a work in progress, sometimes on paper and sometimes in my head. The works in my head often don’t ever get written, though. Pesky life gets in the way, and I’m not disciplined, so I don’t force myself to write. On paper, I’m working on book four in the PIP Inc. Mysteries series. It’s tentatively titled, Dearly Beloved Departed. In this book, men who have weddings coming up on Christmas Eve are being shot, which is especially troubling to my protagonist, Pat Pirard, because she and her fiancé, Sheriff Sargent Tim Lindsey have a wedding planned for that day.

What was the most difficult section/piece you ever wrote? What made it difficult? 

May I tell you about two very different difficult pieces? The first one was killing a favorite character in the first book I wrote, The Death Contingency, book one of my Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries series. When I started writing, I’d act out scenes before anyone except my cat was awake. I danced around what had to happen for days, but finally had to do the deed. When my husband found me in my office, I was sobbing and shaking, killing my character affected me so strongly.

The second most difficult scene for me to write was in the last book of that series, The Two-Faced Triplex. I’m a very visual writer; I have to see my characters before I can write them. Often I begin writing by using someone I know as a character. Tom Kiley, my protagonist’s husband, began his existence as my husband, Craig. Of course, once I moved into the book, Tom was no longer Craig, except for one thing. I always saw Craig’s intensely blue eyes as Tom spoke.

After my husband died, I still saw his eyes in Tom and it became increasingly difficult to write the series. I decided the seventh book would be the last. As I neared the end of the story, Tom was in extreme jeopardy. Would Regan McHenry, who started her life as Nancy―me―be widowed like I was? Some readers told me they could tell I wasn’t sure whether or not Tom would survive. Making that decision and writing the final scene was incredibly difficult.

What sort of research do you do for your work?

Doing research is often the most entertaining part of writing. I interview people and ask for tips about how to kill people and what to do with bodies. You’d be amazed how forthcoming people are with suggestions. I spend a considerable amount of time researching details for books such as how to tell an ancient burial from a modern one, how redwood trees water themselves, how bodies decompose under various situations, to name a few bits of research I’ve done, and my favorite: the evolution of cat litter that I used to date a partially mummified body discovered in a wall anomaly in Buying Murder.

Which books and authors do you read for pleasure? Is there an author who inspires you?

I read broadly. Sone of my recent favorites have been A Tale for a Time Being by Ruth Ozaki and more cozies than I can mention because I know so many other writers of that genre. I love non-fiction writers, the late David McCullough, and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin are two of my favorites.

Was there a person who encouraged you to write? 

I’m going to reframe the question so it reads who discouraged you from writing and what was their impact on your writing.

Mrs. McNabb, my high school AP English teacher comes to mind. I worshipped her, so when she told the class to write something highly personal just for her that she wouldn’t share with anyone, I did. She read my story aloud to the class. I was mortified and never wrote another thing until I was in my late fifties.

The other major influencer in making me write was a friend, Charlotte Bridges. She was an IT person who would get up every morning before work and write. She was a wonderful writer; the only problem was that she never finished anything.

 I started working on my first book as a game, never intending to do anything with it other than keep myself entertained. She was visiting and caught me in one of my early morning writing sessions and asked me what I was doing. When I told her I was writing a book, she became outraged and told me I couldn’t do that. She said I had to take classes, find a mentor, join a critic circle, and “suffer for my art.” I told her I was just goofing and never intended to do anything with what I wrote.

I finished my book, not my best effort for sure, but I learned a lot. Then I put it on a shelf and started working on another book. (Writing is an addiction; you never stop at one book.) I got a call from her a few months later. She said she was dying of brain cancer and her one regret was that she never finished anything and seen her name in print.

The first book was published and dedicated to her just before she died. If she hadn’t insisted that I couldn’t write just because I wanted to, I might not have finished The Death Contingency.

 

THE TWO-FACED TRIPLEX

Regan signs on to play consoler-and-chief after the body of Martha Varner, one of her favorite clients, is found and the woman’s distraught daughter begs Regan to stop escrow from closing on a purchase her mother was about to make.

Martha Varner’s death, at first ruled suicide, is quickly ruled homicide. The dead woman’s best friend thinks she knows who Martha’s killer is. The police have a different suspect. And Regan? Well, she has her own ideas about who killed Martha Varner.

She just can’t imagine how complicated playing amateur sleuth will make her life and how dangerous her investigation will prove to be for her husband, Tom.

 

THE GLASS HOUSE

#1: When downsizing hits her perfect job as Law Librarian, smart, pretty Pat Pirard, gets an offer to use her invaluable research skills in a local murder case.  Yes, the hunky attorney she will work for is a distraction but once Pat gets her teeth into a subject she’ll dive into this twisted murder case until the guilty party is revealed. What a ride!

#2: “Cops to dog-sitters have been sleuths in mysteries, but a Law Librarian? When Pat Pirard, Law Librarian, loses her perfect job to downsizing, she’ll use her invaluable skills in a local murder case.  Yes, the hunky attorney who hires her is a distraction, but as Pat tenaciously follows witnesses and clues, all sorts of ugly truths float to the surface, until Pat uncovers the culprit. This book has all the earmarks of a terrific new series. Highly recommended!”

#3: “Cops to dog-sitters have been sleuths in mysteries, but a Law Librarian? Soon as I read this book, I knew that Pat Pirard, Law Librarian, was going hit all the high-water mark for the perfect sleuth. This book has all the earmarks of a terrific new series. Highly recommended!”

RP Dahlke, Author of The Dead Red Mystery Series